An Israeli Arab woman casts her vote during the Israeli General Election on Tuesday in Tel Aviv. / Uriel Sinai, Getty Images

by Vanessa O'Brien, Special for USA TODAY

by Vanessa O'Brien, Special for USA TODAY

EAST JERUSALEM - Many Israeli Arabs said Tuesday that voting was a wasted effort even though they number 1.6 million or 20% of the population.

"We are absolutely powerless to bring change," said East Jerusalem shopkeeper Mohammed Zatari.

Perhaps, but not agree on what kind of change they desire. Recent polls indicate that a majority would not want to live in a Palestinian state should one be created, but the majority in the polls feel they face discrimination.

Mirvat Hatab, 31, a lawyer and mother from Jaffa, said that racism towards Arabs was rising among politicians on the right, whose parties were expected to do well Tuesday.

"I hope that Israel will be a better place to live in every way â?? financially, safety-wise," she said. "But our situation as Arabs in Israel is not going to improve when there is someone like (Israel Beytenu head Avigdor) Lieberman, who says that Arabs should go away from here."

Lieberman has said that the Arab residents of Israel see themselves not as Israelis but as Palestinians and should be encouraged to lived under the rule of the Palestinian Authority.

The Central Elections Committee said that voter turnout was likely to be the highest since 1999, possibly reaching 70%. But Israeli Arab turnout could be as low as 50%, according to recent surveys.

Four Arab parties ran in the general election along with one joint Arab-Jewish party, Hadash. Early indications suggest that Hadash will win four seats, United Arab List was forecast to win three seats and Balad two.

Additionally, the major parties have either Arab or Druze candidates on their slates â?? including those on the political right.

Israeli Arab parties used their share of government-sponsored television and radio ad time to urge the Arab sector to vote. The Arab League, based in Cairo, took the unusual step of urging the Arab sector to vote to foil "racist" plans to force them to leave their homes.

Had Israeli Arab voters turned out in numbers they could have secured the seats that would see a center-left coalition form a government rather than center-right. But many East Jerusalem Arab denizens are permanent residents, not Israeli citizens, and ineligible to vote.

Arabs in Israel have the right to citizenship if they want it, and Arabs service in the Knesset, in the military forces and on the Supreme Court.

Haifa University political scientist Asa'd Ghanem predicted before the election that voter turnout would be low among Israeli Arabs.

"If the same situation continues and the same atmosphere that for sure Netanyahu is going to be the next prime minister, then I think people will continue to be passive and will stay at home," he said.

Arab Israelis are not motivated only by Palestinian issues. They are among te country's middle class, and are better off financially than the average Middle East Arab.

Banan Taha, a truck and car dealer from Kfar Qassim, said Israeli Arab parties lost votes because they failed to address the concerns of their constituents. He voted for Hope for Change, the first pro-Israel Arab party.

"All the leaders we have in the Knesset until now they speak about the Palestinians in the West Bank, not the Palestinians in Israel," he said.

Yousef Asmar, 29, a construction engineer from Jaffa, said the economy was his key concern.

"I just got married and bought a house, so I know how expensive it is to buy a house and to start a new family," he said. "That's what I care about."